Who were the manufacters of the M7 bayonet during the Vietnam War and how were they marked?
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Who were the manufacters of the M7 bayonet during the Vietnam War and how were they marked?
After the M-16 was fully approved by the US Military in 1963-64 and massive production began, the M7 was slightly redesigned with a two piece finely checkered removable black plastic handle held on to the tang by two machine screws, all metal parts were Parkerized, the cross guard was made a little wider with manufacturers stamping their maker marks and US M7 onto them, and the pommel was now peened onto the tang. All of the Vietnam Era manufacturers, with the exception of Imperial Schrade Corporation, used what is referred to as a slotted tang, which has two screw holes and two elongated slots. Imperial, as well as Ontario Knife Company and General Cutlery Corporation used the solid tang, which only had two screw holes through the tang. Ontario and Gen Cut only produced M7's after the Vietnam Era. The first new production M7's were manufactured by Columbus Milpar and Manufacturing Company and Imperial Schrade Corporation under contract with Colt Industries. In a letter dated September 13, 1979, Mr. Robert E. Roy of Colt Industries wrote "The numbers that you have seen stamped on the blades are not license numbers. They are the part number of that particular bayonet. Part number 62316 is the standard pattern of the M7 bayonet which we have been furnishing since the early 1960's. They have been made by a variety of manufacturers, but in many cases there are no identifying marks to indicate who the manufacturer is." Milpar and Imperial are the only two manufacturers that I am aware of, other than Carl Eickhorn produced W. Germany versions (which will be discussed in the future), that produced the new model M7 with the blade stamped showing the Colt trademark and "COLT'S 62316 HARTFORD CONN USA" . The Milpar Colt stamped blade versions are somewhat rare and I have not been able to locate production numbers for this particular version. Imperial Colt stamped blades had approximately 30,000 produced and are fairly common and easily gotten for one's collection. Milpar had "MILPAR USM7" stamped onto the cross guard while Imperial only stamped "US M7" on their version, obviously being the manufacturer that Mr. Roy acknowledged in his letter.
Thanks a lot for the information I appreciate it.
George-You might also want to check"US Military Knives " site . Bill Humes has a great M7 Bayonet column w/ some really great info, and photos. SKIP
Yup, that's where that information came from:
Humes M7_03